Biz & IT —

What killed Vista will make Windows 7 fly

Who is to blame for the public's negative opinion of Vista and the positive …

I'm one of those users who has been using Vista with no problems ever since Microsoft gave out RTM copies to beta testers. However, as a writer, I've watched the media completely destroy the public opinion of Vista, leading many to stick with Windows XP or to look for alternatives, even before they had tried Vista. Even with SP1 out, many have not bothered trying Vista on recent hardware and therefore could not realize the fact that it really is worthy of being XP's successor. If I had to lay the blame on one party for Vista's poor public opinion, I wouldn't lay it on Microsoft, I wouldn't lay it on hardware companies incapable of producing good drivers, I wouldn't lay it on the fact that XP is so good, I would lay it on the media for blowing things out of proportions.

Yes, the problem is exaggeration (it's in this article's title too, in case you missed it); bloggers and journalists alike use their personal experiences to prove their point in their writing. The blame doesn't solely lie with us, as Vista was by no means perfect, but we did manage to amplify the problems beyond reason. And if the beta is anything to go by, Windows 7 is going to fly. This is, by far, the best beta operating system the software giant has ever released. The media has locked on to this, and is using exaggeration already, before Windows 7 is even ready for prime time. Here are two examples:

Those type of headlines were nowhere to be seen when Vista was in beta, or even after it was released. Regardless of what you think of Windows 7, chances are you know it's not going to steal significant market share from Mac and Linux. That's not because Microsoft sucks, it's because more people are becoming aware that there are alternatives, and some fraction of them are trying them out. If one percent of those who learn about the alternatives switch, that's still a significant number in the grand scheme of things. Do I think that some will switch back to Windows when Windows 7 is released? Yes. That is, assuming that things keep going the way they're going. Most importantly though, many will use some combination of the three different operating systems, and that's really what is great: being able to take advantage of every operating system's pros.

But what I'm really getting at here is that bloggers know this is the best beta operating system Microsoft has ever released. They know Microsoft is really doing it right this time. They know that if they post a positive article on Windows 7, they'll get a lot more positive feedback, because even at beta, that's the general consensus: Windows 7 is good.

A friend asked me the other day: "Yo, what's Windows 7? Ive only heard good things about it so far, and I want it." Of course, I explained to him that it's not yet ready and that he shouldn't get his hopes up, but then I showed him the beta anyway.